Hinsdale Group Looking For 100-year-old Houses

People have birth certificates and trees have age rings, but finding out the age of old houses is sometimes like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle.

The Hinsdale Historical Society is helping residents document the age of their homes so they can declare them ``centennial homes`` if they are 100 years old or more.

``We think that there are several hundred homes at least 100 years old in town,`` said Fred Cue, chairman of the society`s historical sites committee.

The society is also preparing to begin a fundraising campaign later this month to collect $100,000 to complete renovation of the society`s centennial house and to expand the society`s programs.

Cue and other committee members go to county offices in Wheaton to help Hinsdale homeowners trace the date of their homes through many of the clues that exist, such as maps and tax records.

The effort to find 100-year-old homes was started during the village`s centennial celebration in 1973, which resulted in about 70 homes being identified.

The project was rekindled last year with the establishment of the Historic Sites Committee, which is reviewing documentation on about 15 homes. When the age of the house is judged to be more than 100, a plaque can be placed in front of it.

``We want the interest to stem from the owners,`` Cue said. Interested people can contact Cue at 655-0549.

The society`s Centennial Home, 1 S. Clay St., formerly was known as the Orr House. The society obtained it from Hinsdale Elementary School District 181 in 1981 and began renovating it.

The monthlong fund drive will consist of volunteers soliciting funds throughout Hinsdale.

About $80,000 of the hoped-for $100,000 will go for renovation work, and the rest is earmarked for an endowment fund for the museum to maintain the home and promote other society projects such as a lecture series and purchasing historical artifacts and period pieces for the museum, said Frances von Schlegell, of the society.